NOAA’S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DECLARES
MONTANA’S ROOSEVELT COUNTY AND FORT PECK RESERVATION STORMREADY

Officials
from NOAA's National Weather Service today praised Roosevelt County
and the Fort Peck Tribes in northeast Montana for completing a set
of rigorous warning criteria necessary to earn the distinction of
being StormReady. The incorporated communities of Wolf Point, Poplar,
Brockton, Culbertson, Bainville and Froid are included as being StormReady.

“Fort
Peck Tribes and Roosevelt County were among the first in the nation
to have approved FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plans,” said Tanja
Fransen, warning coordination meteorologist at the weather forecast
office in Glasgow, Mont. “Becoming StormReady was one of the
mitigation activities they wanted to accomplish because it encourages
communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous
weather operations and public awareness.”

The
nationwide community preparedness program uses a grassroots approach
to help communities develop plans to handle local severe weather and
flooding threats. The program is voluntary and provides communities
with clear-cut advice from a partnership between the local National
Weather Service office and state and local
disaster and emergency services coordinators. StormReady started in
1999 with seven communities in the Tulsa, Okla., area. Today, there
are more than 980 StormReady communities in 48 states. Montana has
11 counties and 18 communities that are StormReady.

“Disaster
preparedness is a top priority for Roosevelt County and this has brought
us another step closer to making sure our county is prepared,”
said Dennis Brockmeyer, Roosevelt County disaster and emergency services
coordinator. “We worked with State Farm insurance to receive
a $5,000 grant that allowed us to make NOAA Weather Radio receivers
available at our local government facilities and other public places
throughout the area where people gather.”

Arlyn
Headdress, disaster and emergency services coordinator and tribal
councilwoman for the Fort Peck Tribes stated, “Our residents
have faced several disasters over the past few years from drought
to flooding, severe storms and blizzards. Working towards becoming
StormReady has allowed us to review our planning and make updates
that will benefit the community in the future.”

Recognition
ceremonies were conducted today for both the county and the tribe.
Bob Diaz, a division chief from the National Weather Service Western
Region office, and Julie Adolphson, meteorologist-in-charge of the
National Weather forecast office in Glasgow, presented recognition
letters and special StormReady signs to the county commissioners and
to the tribal council. The StormReady status will remain in effect
for three years, at which point the county, the tribe and the incorporated
communities will go through a renewal process.

“Every
year, around 500 Americans lose their lives to severe weather and
floods,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson,
director of NOAA's National Weather Service. “More than 10,000
severe thunderstorms, 2,500 floods and 1,000 tornadoes impact the
United States annually, and hurricanes are a threat to the Gulf and
East Coasts. Potentially deadly weather can affect every person in
the country. That’s why NOAA's National Weather Service developed
the StormReady program.”

To
be recognized as StormReady, a community must:

establish
a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;

have
multiple ways to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and
to alert the public;

create
a system that monitors weather conditions locally;

promote
public readiness through community outreach and education; and

NOAA’s
National Weather Service is the official source of weather data, forecasts
and warnings for the United States and its territories. NOAA's National
Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning
and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property
and enhance the national economy.

The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the
U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security
and national safety through the prediction and research of weather
and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship
of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging
Global Earth Observation System of System (GEOSS), NOAA is working
with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to develop a global
monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes.